Publisher's Synopsis
The natural history of British birds [pt.5] By E. (Edward) Donovan Edward Lear, if recognized at all, is most commonly remembered as the endearing master of nonsense verse (e.g. the owl and the pussycat who went to sea in a pea-green boat) and for his enduring limericks (he virtually invented the form). But the first manifestation of his genius was his penchant for drawing-and especially for capturing animals directly from life. He was, like many of his English contemporaries, precocious, displaying his talent at a shockingly early age and publishing his first book, a monograph on the parrot family, when he was only eighteen. In it, he created what is still acknowledged as one of the premier, early works of lithography (Lear worked directly on the stones) and established a format that would be followed for decades by such publishers as Gould, with whom he worked closely and often anonymously. But the first decade of his artistic life was primarily devoted to creating works of natural history, working with the infrastructure of British scientists, collectors, and publishers who made that country the nexus for scientific investigation and its dissemination for much of the nineteenth century. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.